Hot here today, with a pretty stiff south wind. My daughter (21 y/o) was up for the weekend with a bunch of friends. They were out on the water all day, decided to give the kite tube a try. I'd told them I had to drive - my rationale being that I wanted to learn how to drive so I could teach someone before I let them pull me, plus I didn't want any crazy Gen-x ers pulling someone on a kite tube with no experience.

The driver is the key, I found, with a hand on the throttle and an eye on the mirror. I'd watch the kite in the mirror and if it got too high or started wobbling, I'd back off on the throttle and it would settle back nicely. Some of the kids got some good air, some had some impressively sustained flights. Not a single one of 'em fell off. Running downwind with my 115 lb daughter on the tube, it took about 30 mph to get her airborne. 35 mph got her some sustained 10-15 foot rides. Into the wind, it took about 20-25.

They enjoyed it. A lot. With a sane driver at the wheel (Dad), I perceive the danger of this water toy as completely managable.

The tube should be inflated very tight - no wrinkles in the cover. If it deforms too much while towing, stability in flight is negatively affected.

A little too fast is better than a little too slow. Faster gives more stability and helps prevent the side-to-side wobbling. As long as it's not TOO fast, the rider still has complete control in terms of airborne-ness by weight shifting.

The rope that comes with it is designed for the kite tube and has 3 take-off loops. Shorter for beginners, full 65 feet for advanced, and an intermediate length. Shorter rope limits height. These kids were athletically adept - we pulled on the intermediate length.

The tube is cumbersome on land. Storing an inflated 10 foot diameter water toy might be a little problematic.

Startup is a little tricky. The rider has to pull WAY back on the lead-leash until the tube is on plane or it will "submarine".

Turn-arounds are interesting. The more the driver whips the rider, especially if turning into the wind, they'll get some perhaps unanticipated lift.

Gusts don't affect it as much as I thought they would.

Towing into a crosswind will cause the kite to fly off to the downwind side a fair amount. It doesn't seem to affect stability that much.

Towing when there's no wind seems to give more stable flight, although speeds are faster.

This thing is a real quality device. The construction is very clever and very well executed.

You can tow from the pylon or the stern towing eye. I tried both and I don't perceive (yet) any difference between the two locations.

There are a lot of well-placed hand-holds on the riding surface. As long as the driver is sane, even some significant snap-rolls onto the water still leave the rider securely on the tube.

The biggest problem in terms of maintaining stability is over-controlling by the rider. Small control inputs make a big difference.

The graphics are cool, I'm told. Especially the death's head skull on the underside.

As long as the boat driver uses common sense and pays attention, this thing is no more dangerous, maybe LESS dangerous, than a regular tube. As I see it so far.